Privacy as roguery: Personal financial information in an age of transparency

Abstract

A fundamental shift has occurred in the relationship between the state and the individual regarding financial privacy. The onus is now on citizens to show why governments should not have access to their personal financial information, rather than governments having to show why they should. This article argues that this shift has come about in large part because of the activities of autonomous and influential transnational networks of regulators. These regulatory networks have systematically favoured administrative efficiency and transparency at the expense of privacy in designing responses to financial crimes. Evidence is drawn from an examination of recent policy developments in countering tax evasion, money laundering, and the financing of terrorism. Currently, the principle of financial transparency suggests that financial privacy inhibits the fight against criminals and terrorists; by extension, asserting a right to privacy indicates some kind of roguery afoot.